Genesis 1:1-13 - The Power of God

Introduction

Good morning, would you turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 1:1-13 please.

We are continuing our series on the first 11 chapters of Genesis entitled “In the Beginning”.

Where we are discovering what God reveals about Himself,

his creation,

and the foundational events that begin the story of salvation.

Last week we explored Genesis 1:1 and saw how God is transcendent:

He is completely other, completely Holy, set apart.

And this transcendent God is the creator of everything.

This week we are continuing the creation narrative,

looking at days 1-3 of the creation week.

So our text this morning is Genesis 1:1-13.

But before we get to our passage, let me ask you something:

Have you ever looked at a part of the world, or up at the night sky,

and been filled with a feeling of astonishment,

awe,

reverence?

I think we have all had at least a moment like that, probably many moments like that.

Sometimes you can become so overcome by the sheer size or the raw power of something that it’s hard to even look at it.

I remember when my son Sam was about two and a half,

we went on a trip to Florida,

Sam was very excited to see the ocean (or as he called it the “docean”) up close for the first time,

but when we got onto the beach he was so frightened by the feeling of the wind,

and the noise of the waves,

that he refused to even look at the docean.

Something similar happened when we took the kids to niagara falls for the first time a couple of years ago;

my daughter Norah (who was seven at the time) had trouble even looking at the falls.

I was there again in Niagara Falls just a few months ago, and it is intense;

you feel the falls deep in your chest, and hear it’s rushing waters,

well before you ever get to see it.

We get a visceral response of amazement, delight, and even fear,

when we encounter the magnitude, complexity, and beauty that exists in the created order.

This is not by accident.

As God’s creatures, these are an appropriate response.

Romans 1:20 , tells us that

Romans 1:20 (ESV)

[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

The things God has placed into the world communicate to us his:

divine nature - that is he the creator God

and his Eternal power.

Amazement, delight, and fear are all appropriate responses when confronted with this reality.

But as we will see, God not only created a world so he could demonstrate his phenomenal power,

but he created a world through which he could demonstrate his love.

Which takes me to our passage this morning.

Genesis 1:1-13

Interpretation

Now as I said last week there are a lot of different opinions on how to interpret the early chapters of Genesis.

Even among conservative, bible believing Christians, there are debates about the age of the earth,

and how the biblical account of creation does or doesn’t work with the claims of modern science.

My focus in this series is not on apologetics or on defending what the scriptures say.

I take what they say as a given.

As I said last week, what I want to focus on in our short time together

is how we apply these sections of scripture to our lives.

I think the application of the early chapters of Genesis often get overlooked

because of the debates surrounding them.

Young Earth

Now, full disclosure, I believe in a young earth.

I believe a young earth is what we see in the scriptures.

I also believe that what is written in the creation narrative of Genesis 1 and 2 is an accurate account of the creation of the world.

When it comes to the days of the creation week, I see them as Seven, 24 hour days.

I’m convinced this is the way they were intended in the text,

and it is consistent with what we read in other places in the scriptures.

Like in Exodus 20:11 where it says,

Exodus 20:11 (ESV)

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Now, I didn’t always believe in a young earth,

I have, in the past, believed in an older earth.

And I understand there are some very compelling arguments for an older earth.

I know about many of the current scientific claims,

and I take them into consideration in my own view.

And I know about many of the different interpretations of Genesis 1:

the framework interpretation, and the function interpretation, the gap theory, and the day/age theory.

So to my brothers and sisters who have those convictions, I know where your coming from.

But I struggle to reconcile those views with what is plainly written in the scriptures.

Now this is going to sound like a copout, but its true.

But I firmly believe that the creation of the world is far more miraculous than we tend to think it is.

I hope you’ll see what I mean later on as we go through this passage.

Pattern

We are focusing on days 1-3 of the creation week this morning.

And in each of the days of creation,

there is a pattern to what happens:

God Speaks

What God commands takes place

God names his creation (up to and including the creation of the land and the seas)

God sees “It is good” (on every day except day 2)

Evening, and morning, ending that particular day.

Exposition

Ex Nihilo (v. 1)

Our passage begins with v. 1,

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now last week we treated this verse as a summary statement, introducing the whole creation story.

But this statement also is an account of God’s first creative action,

on the first day of creation.

Exodus 20:11 includes the creation of the heavens and the earth within the six days. It says,

Exodus 20:11 (ESV)

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them

so it follows that v. 1 is a description of God’s first act of creation on the first day.

Although we do not see explicitly that God “speaks” the heavens and the earth into existence in v.1,

we do see elsewhere that God creates the heavens and the earth of v. 1 through his spoken word.

Psalm 33:6 tells us that,

Psalm 33:6 (ESV)

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”

And in Hebrews 11:3 we read,

Hebrews 11:3 (ESV)

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Point 1: God Created Everything Out of Nothing

This takes me to my first point this morning, and that is this:

God created everything out of nothing.

Historically this is known as creation Ex Nihilo, which is latin meaning “out of Nothing.”

Now I want you to think about what this means… (slowly)

At a word, God brought the heavens and the earth into being.

From nothing to, not just something, but to everything.

It’s just like we saw in the passage I quoted from Romans 1 -

he demonstrates “his eternal power,

and his divine nature,

in the things that have been made”…

But he also demonstrates his eternal power

and divine nature,

in the making of them.

This is what I meant when I said that, “the creation of the world is far more miraculous than we tend to think it is.”

Just think about the absolute force of this creative power!

It is Absolutely Disruptive!

God declares it, and nothingness is destroyed by everything!

One way I heard it God’s creative power described is that it is “raw sovereignty”.

God is so sovereign, he is so authoritative,

that by his word, worlds, galaxies, dimensions burst into existence. - Raw Sovereignty.

And its this raw authority of God’s creative power, that makes a young earth, a young cosmos,

no big deal at all.

Time makes this no easier.

In v. 1 God speaks the very heavens and the earth into existence.

God did not form everything that exists from raw materials that already existed.

But the raw materials are made by him as well,

created by his decree.

And it is after speaking into being, the raw materials of heavens and earth,

that we get the next action of creation in v.2.

State and Perspective (v. 2)

We read there that,

Genesis 1:2 ESV

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Now often we skim over this part of the creation narrative to get to the exciting stuff,

but there are two important things to consider here in v. 2.

Unformed State of the Earth

The first is the unformed state of the earth.

At this point in the creation narrative, the heavens and the earth exist,

but the earth is described as formless and void.

It is uninhabitable.

And what we are about to see over the following verses,

is God making an uninhabitable world habitable.

Fit for the creatures he intends to fill it with,

which is something we will get back to a bit later.

Position of the Spirit of God

The second thing I want you to consider is what this passage says about the Spirit of God.

First of all, the Spirit of God is present at creation .

This is not to say that we have in Genesis a full expression of the trinity, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)

but we do see that God’s Spirit is present at creation.

And notice where he is.

He is described at this point hovering over the waters.

The transcendent God is here imminent,

he is present, hovering down in the midst of his creation.

Many have pointed out that this gives us a point of reference from which to view the rest of God’s acts of creation.

I’m inclined to agree with them.

If you were to picture in your mind the acts of creation in the rest of the chapter,

it makes the most sense, not to picture the creation week from the perspective of floating out above the world somewhere in space,

but down from the place that the Spirit of God is hovering.

Human Space

Now why does this matter?

It matters because where the Spirit of God is said to be hovering,

is down in the general place where his creatures soon will be.

This perspective makes the most sense with how the rest of the creation week is described.

But the perspective also tells us about the purpose of the creation.

The things that God creates from this point onward are essential for life,

especially human life,

to exist on earth.

Point 2: God Created the World for Habitation

And this leads me to my second point this morning.

2. God created the world to be lived in.

God created the earth and formed it for this purpose: as an environment for habitation.

A place for his creatures to live in.

But he didn’t merely intend it to be a place to live,

he created it to be a place of relationship.

Something we don’t often think of,

is that God created the world to be the meeting place for himself and his creatures.

So that he could love his creatures, and so that they could love him back.

The world that God spoke into being, isn’t merely a habitat,

It is a living room.

God created the world to be lived in,

so that those who lived in his world would intimately know the transcendent God who placed them there.

I believe that God doing the work of creation by his Spirit,

not up there at some random point in the heavens,

but down where his creatures would eventually live,

demonstrates that he made the world purposefully for us.

Descriptions

Another way we can see that God made the world purposefully to serve as a home for us,

is how the creation is described.

The modern way of understanding the existence of things,

is to reduce them down to their material essence.

The earth is just a rock in space, the sun is just a flaming ball of gas.

Even modern Christians can think this way, though we shouldn’t.

But what is communicated to us in the creation week of Genesis 1 is not just the physical essence of the things created,

but also their purpose.

The purpose of the things that are created are tied to their existence, to their being.

And the purpose that is tied to them, is how they serve humanity in our home.

God even names them according to this purpose.

Day 1: Light (vv. 3-5)

We see the purpose of habitation, still on day one, in the creation of light in v. 3-5. We read there,

Genesis 1:3–5 (ESV)

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

1. First of all, you can see in these verses the pattern I spoke about earlier.

God Speaks,

and says “Let there be light”.

What God commands takes place

Light is made.

God sees the light is good

God gives names to what he has made.

Then we have the end of the day

“There was evening, and morning, the first day.”

2. But look at what God calls the light and the darkness after he makes them.

V. 5 tells us that

Genesis 1:5 (ESV)

“God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.”

Now this sets up for us the pattern of evening and morning that occur throughout the six days of creation.

But the names that God gives to the light and darkness, reflect the experience of his creatures on the earth.

In space - no one can hear you scream.

But also in space there is no day or night.

There’s no sunrise or sunset.

The light and the darkness are named for how they are experienced on earth - day and night.

And day and night is the most basic pattern that God’s creatures live according to.

God made the light to serve his creatures in their home, that is its purpose.

Day 1 of the creation week is full of activity,

the whole of the cosmos is created, heaven and earth.

But God has already begun to take this formless and void earth that could not support life,

and shape it more and more into a place where his creatures can dwell,

and have a relationship with him.

Day 2: Heaven/Sky (vv. 6-8)

We see the same purpose in God’s creative work on the second day of the creation week.

We read in v. 6-8,

Genesis 1:6–8 (ESV)

“And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

Sky

A hard part in understanding this passage is that, in Hebrew, the same word “heaven” is used to describe the sky (where the birds fly),

and space (where the stars are),

and the heavenly places where God dwells.

As we saw last week, sometimes the Bible gives us the description “Highest heaven”, or “heaven of heavens”, in Hebrew it is literally “Heaven, Heaven”

and what those describe is either where the stars are or where God dwells .

But from what is being described here in vv. 6-8;

what we call the “sky” is what is likely meant.

With His word, God places a heaven - a sky between the waters below and the waters above.

The waters rest on the earth underneath the sky,

and they gather above the sky in the clouds.

This again is described according to it’s purpose,

in supporting the life of God’s creatures.

Because the rain gives life to them.

God creates the sky, the atmosphere,

and concludes the second day.

Day 3: Land and Sea (vv. 9-10), Vegetation (vv. 11-13)

Even though that is all that God creates on day 2,

in vv. 9-10 we see that God is not done with the waters.

Land and Sea (vv. 9-10)

We read that on the third day,

Genesis 1:9–10 (ESV)

“God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

By His word God creates dry land for his creatures to walk upon upon.

And again God names these aspects of his creation from the human perspective.

Land and Sea.

Now you could say that, these are just named from the human perspective,

because these are humans writing the story.

But the text says specifically that God called them these things.

He has authority over them and he gives them their names.

And their names reflect their relationship to his creatures.

Vegetation (vv. 11-13)

But the creation of the land and the sea is not all that God does on the third day.

We read our final section in vv. 11-13,

Genesis 1:11–13 ESV

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

God takes a world of raw elements: earth, air, and water,

and by his word causes life to spring out of it.

Again God is making his world inhabitable.

Giving life sustaining food to the creatures he will soon populate his world with.

And later on in our series we will see that this part of the created order:

the vegetation,

specifically the fruit bearing trees,

will play a critical role in the future of this earth.

With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Point 3: God Created Everything Good

Which actually takes me to my third and final point this morning.

3. God created everything good.

Over and over, we see in the pattern of the creation account,

God creates something, and then he sees that his creation is good.

The creation is created good.

We’ll get to what that means in a moment,

But this was absolutely countercultural to what was commonly believed in the ancient world,

and also to what is believed today.

Pagan Creation

For the pagans in the ancient world - the creation wasn’t good.

Many scholars have pointed out that the Genesis account of creation acts as a refutation of Pagan creation myths.

In many of those myths, the created world, with all it’s gods, comes into being through a great cosmic war.

And the gods are the furthest thing from good.

They and the elements of creation they were tied to, act on impulse.

they were incredibly dangerous and so the people did all sorts of superstitious things

in order to gain favour from the gods and the elements of the cosmos they controlled.

The world the pagans lived in was a terrifying place,

most people nowadays who are interested in reviving paganism,

don’t realize the fear that those people lived in.

The fear they still live in in many places.

This is part of the reason why Christianity has historically been very attractive to pagan cultures.

A good, all powerful, transcendent God,

made his creation with the intention that his creatures would flourish here.

God made his creation good.

Atheistic Creation

But the modern atheist doesn’t see the creation as good either.

The famous atheist Richard Dawkins described the cosmos this way in his book River out of Eden.

The cosmos has “at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

He couldn’t be more wrong.

The whole of human experience demonstrates the folly of that statement.

God created everything with design,

with purpose,

and he created it good.

It didn’t all stay good, but God created it good.

Good

But what does good mean in this instance?

I think the answer to this question is simple.

That the creation is good,

because it gives God glory.

We see it in many places in the scriptures.

Psalm 19 is all about this, Psalm 19:1-2

Psalm 19:1–2 (ESV)

“The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.”

Colossians 1:16 says that

Colossians 1:16 (ESV)

all things were created through him and for him.

And in Isaiah 6, the Prophet witnesses the angels calling to one another in the throne room of God:

Isaiah 6:3 (ESV)

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

The Glory of God

The creation is good, because it brings God glory.

The glory of God is the highest possible ethic, the highest possible good.

It’s what makes good, good.

Even though God is making all of these aspects of creation,

as a home for his creatures,

the primary, first order purpose for his creation,

is to glorify him.

That is why he sees that the things he creates are good,

he is glorified by it.

God created everything good.

Application

In the first three days of the creation week we get to witness God’s spectacular creative power.

1. First of all: God Created Everything out of Nothing

In a display of his raw sovereignty, he spoke everything into existence.

This is how God creates, he doesn’t need materials or time, or anything.

He demonstrates his eternal power,

and his divine nature,

in the things that have been made.

And he demonstrates his eternal power

and divine nature,

in the making of them.

2. Secondly God Created the World to be lived in.

God created the world out of his eternal power,

but he also focused that power, to craft a world gentle and hospitable enough for his creatures to live in.

He spoke it into being standing where his creatures would one day be,

and created the elements of the world with our well being in mind.

You and I are not aliens on this planet,

we were made for it and it was crafted for us.

We do need to treasure it and take care of it.

But contrary to what some are saying nowadays,

humanity is not a blight on the earth,

as we will see in a couple weeks, we were created specially to rule it, care for it, and make it flourish.

And God did not merely create a habitat for us,

he created a living room,

a place where we would encounter him, and get to know him personally.

He would especially fulfill this purpose by entering his creation as the man Jesus Christ,

in whom “we see God’s glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And through whom God shows his love for us, “in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.”

God created the world for us to live in, and as a place for us to meet him, and receive his love.

3. And Finally God Created Everything Good.

He made his creation in conformity to the highest possible ethic,

his own glory.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the whole earth is full of his glory!

Conclusion

Do you glorify God when you look upon his creation?

I think the reason many of us don’t,

is because we are so used to surrounding ourselves with the things of man rather than the things of God.

Escaping into the black mirror in our pockets,

or in our living rooms,

or even sometimes strapped right onto our heads.

God has created this world powerfully,

he has created it for you,

and he has created it to bring him glory.

Spend time in his world,

encounter its magnitude, it’s complexity, and it’s beauty.

And allow it to lift your eyes off yourself and on to the transcendent God who created it for you,

so that you might know his love for you.

Prayer

Revelation 4:11 ESV

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”